Instinct
by Storygirl000
Summary: She heard Bellwether laugh again. "Oh, and nice try filling the dart gun with blueberries. I figured you'd try something like that. Have fun with your partner." One-shot. Rated T for blood and minor swearing.
**Instinct**

"What are you going to do?" she asked, not a hint of fear in her voice. "Kill me?"

Judy Hopps had had better weeks. Being discriminated against in the police force, blackmailing a fox into helping her crack a case, solving said case but losing said fox's trust and causing widespread panic throughout the city, therefore causing her to turn in her badge...

Yeah, she didn't have weeks like this back at the carrot farm.

Now here she was, trapped in a prehistoric pit display, next to Nick (the fox she'd dragged into all this trouble, whom she'd patched things up with), facing the criminal mastermind behind it all, Mayor Bellwether.

The plan she'd concocted was rather simple: infect predators with a processed liquid form of flowers called night howlers, dispersed by shooting pellets of the substance out of a dart gun, thus causing practical civil war between prey and and predator and securing her position as mayor.

Yeah, real simple.

The sheep laughed, almost psychotically. "No. But _he_ is."

Those words were barely out of her mouth when she shot Nick with her dart gun.

They'd anticipated that Bellwether would do something like this. So they'd switched the pellets for blueberries-since the two looked remarkably similar-when they'd had the chance. Once Bellwether had shot Nick, they were planning on faking a chase scene, knowing Bellwether woud gloat about her plan-a gloat that Judy would record on her pen.

But even the best laid plans of monkeys and mice go awry.

"Yes? Police! There's a savage fox in the Natural History Museum! Officer Hopps is down! Please hurry!" Bellwether clicked off her phone.

Judy looked at the blue stain on Nick's neck. He was breathing heavily.

"Nick, please," she fake-begged. "You have to fight it. Nick, don't do this!"

Then he spoke. "Judy...something's wrong..." he panted heavily.

Her blood ran cold. Was this a part of the act?

She heard Bellwether laugh again. "Oh, and nice try filling the dart gun with blueberries. I figured you'd try something like that. Have fun with your partner."

Judy's eyes widened. Her heart skipped a few beats.

This wasn't an act anymore. Nick was going savage.

"Run..." he nearly croaked. Then she heard the unintelligible growls. She saw him get down on four paws. His eyes became slivers.

Then he pounced.

Judy could barely get out of the way in time. On a normal day, she'd have been agile and fast enough to run circles around Nick, but her leg had been injured earlier, hindering her movement.

A laugh rang from above. "Gosh, think of the headines! 'Hero Cop Killed by Savage Fox!'" Bellwether chortled.

Nick froze. Judy backed away, afraid of what he would do. Knowing she could still get a confession, she reached into her pocket and pressed the record button on her pen.

"Just think! Prey destroys predator, and I stay in power," the sheep continued. "And I'll dart every predator in Zootopia to keep it that way."

That was all she needed. Judy released the button and waited to see what Nick would do next.

She backed up a bit more and tripped, landing against the wall, right below Bellwether and her ram cronies. Nick paced forward.

She watched as he pounced again, and she braced herself for impact.

Except she never got hit.

He flew over the wall, and landed right on top of Bellwether.

The rams, scared out of their wits, got the hell out of there. Judy quickly realized something.

He wasn't hunting her. He was _defending_ her.

Bellwether wasn't quite as amused. "Wh-what?! But you were supposed to go after her, not me!"

Nick responded by giving her a bite on the arm. Judy couldn't see what was going on, but she assumed from the shrill screaming that Bellwether was being harmed in some way.

Blood dripped from Nick's jaws, and oozed from Bellwether's wound. As she watched in horror, he gave her another chomp to her other arm.

The blood loss was too much. She fell into a dead faint.

Nick was about to deliver a final, fatal bite when he was shot by an air-powered elephant tranquilizer. He was out cold instantly.

Judy heard the footsteps and realized that the police had arrived. She saw Chief Bogo run over to the pit. "Hopps!" he yelled.

"Chief!" she responded, happy to see him.

"What the hell happened here? Bellwether's been chomped in both arms, but you don't have a scratch on you."

"I found out what was really behind the predators going savage, and I have proof as to who masterminded the whole thing. But could you get me out of here first?"

Bogo laughed. "Sure thing, Hopps"

00000

When Nick woke up, he had no idea what had happened. Last he knew, he was stuck in a pit at the museum, and now he was in the hospital.

Then it came rushing back to him. Bellwether shooting him. Judy telling him to snap out of it. Then everything going red.

"You're finally awake," a voice next to him said.

He turned and saw Judy sitting next to him, her injured leg bandaged up. "Glad to have you back, Nick."

He lifted his head. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, I'm alright. Can't say the same about Bellwether, though."

"What'd I do?"

"Let's just say that she's going straight to jail after her arms finish healing."

Nick snickered a little at that. "So, why are you here?"

"I was the only cop that didn't send you into a murderous frenzy."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I guess you saw me as one of your pack." She shrugged. "It was the same thing with Bellwether. She was threatening me, and you reacted appropriately."

"And what'd I do in your care, Nurse Carrots?" he asked.

She smiled. "You acted like a housecat. You let me stroke you, you let me brush your fur, and you even purred at one point."

Nick's smile dropped. "What? Foxes don't purr."

Judy held up her pen and pressed the "play" button. A low purring sound emitted from it, followed by the sound of Judy's voice. "Aw, you're so sweet!"

There was not much Nick could do at this point, except bang his head against a wall while she laughed.

"Sly bunny," he muttered.

00000

 **Saw Zootopia, loved it, got the idea for this in my mind. I have no plans for future fanfics based around Zootopia; right now, I'm gonna try and focus on updating** ** _A Ladybug's Shadow_** **, finishing** ** _Krampus_** **, and going somewhere with** ** _Camp Chaos_** **.**


End file.
